SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the final season of “Orange is the New Black,” streaming now on Netflix.

When Netflix first debuted “Orange is the New Black” in 2013, it introduced audiences to the harsh realities of life within even a minimum security prison. Originally classified as a comedy, the show shone a spotlight on the big and often bright personalities of the women incarcerated at the fictional Litchfield prison, some of whom were there due to broken systems but more of whom did some very bad things and were serving their time. As the seasons went on, the show leaned more into the drama (and was reclassified as such), featuring stories revolving on drug smuggling, violence at the hands of guards, and even a season-long prison riot which resulted in moving to a maximum security setting for many of the key players. All the while, the audience was falling in love with and relating to the women. So when the writing and producing staff sat down to plan their final season, they knew they wanted to infuse some characters’ end points with lighter, more upbeat fare but never shy away from the cold, hard fact that many of them would never be leaving prison.

Hope - Executive - Producer - Tara - Herrmann

“We didn’t want to give too much false hope,” executive producer Tara Herrmann tells Variety, “but we definitely wanted to leave audiences in a place where they can find themselves imagining where they are in the future, whether it’s a week or a month.”

The very end of the series quick-cuts to all of the key players who moved through the seven seasons of the show, from those who are still in the central prison in the story, such as Gloria (Selenis Leyva) and Flaca (Jackie Cruz), to those who were moved...